The harrowing ordeal of Lily, a tiny dachshund left for dead in a cardboard box, led Cyndi West to write a children's book to raise money to replace the Schoharie County animal shelter where the dog was saved.

A year later, Lily, 17, is going strong.

But plans to replace the Animal Shelter of Schoharie Valley have hit a snag due to continuing problems from Tropical Storm Irene and a recent case of extreme cat hoarding that drained the shelter's finances.

"We want to get out of the old shelter," said West, the shelter's vice president and proud owner of Lily. "It's full of mold and the roof continually leaks from all the rain we have been having. In addition, we have no air conditioning in the old shelter and it's just extremely hot and uncomfortable for all our dogs and cats. Fans just don't do it."

The staff has to closely watch the shelter's animals to guard against heat exhaustion, she said.

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The existing shelter is in a former post office off Howes Cave Road, near Howe Caverns. Its replacement, next door, is unfinished.

Before Irene struck in 2011, walloping Schoharie County, the shelter had set aside money to pay for its new home. But the storm brought black mold, bug infestation and damage to walls and ceilings — and forced the shelter to use its savings for the existing building. Work on the new building, by Finger Lakes Construction, has been delayed.

"We have had big problems with our septic system and all the rain and flooding," said West, who also heads the shelter's Animal Welfare Committee.

"We have to install the septic system, hook up the gas to the building and finish all the unfinished construction work that Finger Lakes wants to do but can't because we can't find the funds to do the other things that need to be done so that Finger Lakes can finish its job."

Shelter operations were set back by the hoarding case of Irene VanDyke, a town of Wright woman arrested in February on animal abuse charges. The shelter had to take in some of the 99 cats authorities seized from her home. "The veterinary bills were staggering as we had to pay for emergency medical care as these cats had never been to a vet," West said.

It was her own dog's tale of woe that prompted West to write her book, "Lily in the Box," which was released last year to generate funds for the new shelter.

West met Lily in March 2010 when the sick dachshund was brought in. Abandoned in a cardboard beer box that was taped shut and dumped in a field in Carlisle, Lily was missing parts of her lower jaw and suffered from a untreated infection.

West said Lily was "skin and bones" at the time. She adopted the 5-pound dog that has a silky brown coat, brown eyes and floppy ears that flip up at the ends, to join four other dachshunds in her home.

West's idea for "Lily in the Box" came from a chance encounter in an Oneonta Price Chopper supermarket with Meg Anderson Argo, a high school friend from Otsego County. They got caught up — West learned Argo had a passion for painting — and decided to collaborate on a book illustrated by Argo.

West has a website, Lilyinthebox.org, where the book can be purchased for $18.